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Post-Doctoral Research Associate:
Robotic and information technologies in livestock agriculture: new relationships between humans, cows and machines

Department of Geography, University of Hull

Salary range: £24,877 - £29,704 pa

Closing date: 29th January 2010


A post, which is for 24 months, is available for a Research Associate working on an innovative Economic and Social Research Council-funded project examining how the advent of robotic milking and information technologies in dairy farming is changing human-animal relationships in agriculture and is affecting agricultural practices and knowledges. The post will be based at Hull, and the project is managed by Dr. Lewis Holloway (Department of Geography, University of Hull) and Dr. Chris Bear (Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University). The project will set out to investigate the uses of robotic and information technologies, examining their development, how knowledges about them circulate and how the relationships between farmers/farm workers, cattle and technologies are co-constituted. The project involves qualitative research with a range of actors, including farmers/farm workers, agricultural colleges and representatives of commercial institutions. The Research Associate will play a full role in all aspects of the project, including research planning, field research, analysis and dissemination of results to a range of audiences. The post will involve a range of activities including: researching secondary data sources related to robotic and information technologies in livestock agriculture; interview and observational research with people, cows and technologies; report writing; presenting research findings; project publicity and website content; coordinating and managing an end of project workshop

Candidates should have, or be close to completing, a PhD in an appropriate social science (e.g. human geography, sociology, anthropology, science and technology studies, etc.) and should have experience of qualitative research techniques. Candidates should have good communication skills and be able to take responsibility for providing administrative support for the research. It would be an advantage to have had experience of social scientific research related to agriculture, but this is not essential. The post will commence on the 1st June 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter. Interviews will be held in late February 2010.

To discuss this role informally, please contact Lewis Holloway (01482 466759 or email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) or Chris Bear (01970 622592 or email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>).

Further information, along with details of how to apply, is available at http://www2.hull.ac.uk/Administration/humanresources/jobs/jobvacancies.aspx. A brief summary of the project is given below:


Robotic milking technologies are becoming increasingly important in UK dairy farming, as well as elsewhere in Europe and in North America. Robotic milking machines milk cows automatically at any time, without the need for a human worker to be present. Cows choose when to be milked, enter the robot, are milked and then return to the herd. The robot records detailed data during this process, which can be accessed via computer.  It is claimed by manufacturers that the system can potentially raise milk yields, and also yields benefits in terms of animal health and welfare and for the working conditions of the farmer. Scientists and companies working on the development of robotic milking have had to engage with a range of issues surrounding the deployment of the technology; these concern, for instance, the maintenance of hygiene, the way the robot can 'learn about' and adapt to cows (and udders) of different shapes and sizes, the management of herds so that all cows attend the robot a sufficient number of times per day, and the implications of robotic milking for the health status of cows.

As well as being associated with a set of technical issues, however, the development of robotic technologies in agriculture raises many questions of interest to social scientists. This project focuses on exploring some of these questions using in-depth research techniques to produce a detailed examination of the implications of adopting robotic milking on UK dairy farms.

Specifically, the project is interested in examining the following issues:
How are robotic milking technologies developed? How does their development take account of, and in some ways change, the cows and humans who use them on specific farms? What behaviours are expected from the cows and humans who use robotic milking, and how are farming routines and activities changed? How does robotic milking change the relationships between farmers or farm workers and cows?
How do dairy farmers and others learn about robotic milking? How do they make decisions about whether to adopt robotic milking technologies on their farms? How do farmers perceive the role of robotic milking technologies in a challenging agricultural context? How do they learn to understand and make use of the information generated by robotic milking systems?
What ethical questions are raised by the use of robotic milking technologies? How does the use of robotic milking change the ways in which cows are understood, valued and related to by dairy farmers? What positive and negative effects on animal welfare are associated with robotic milking, and what are the implications of these for the public image of dairy farming?
How can research methods be developed which are effective in examining relationships between humans and animals?

This set of questions leads to the project's research objectives. To summarise them, we will:
1.            Examine the relationships between humans, cows and technology in robotic milking systems;
2.            Investigate how knowledge about robotic milking is produced and communicated;
3.            Examine the ethical issues raised by robotic milking;
4.            Develop methodologies for examining human-animal relationships in farming.

The research will involve detailed interviews with dairy farmers and dairy farm workers, and with staff on the research farms of agricultural colleges, interviews with agricultural scientists and researchers involved in developing robotic milking technologies, with the companies marketing robotic milking equipment and with representatives of organisations concerned with animal welfare. It will involve periods of research on farms, during which the routines and behaviours of both cows and humans will be observed.

________________________________
Dr Christopher Bear
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

Institute of Geography & Earth Sciences
Aberystwyth University
Llandinam Building
Penglais Campus
Aberystwyth
SY23 3DB
UK

Phone +(44) 1970 622592
Fax +(44) 1970 622659

http://www.ies.aber.ac.uk/en/staff/academic/chris-bear



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